Disappointing might possibly be generous. We love HAL and have had only great experiences with the cruise line. This time however we may have taken a closer look at the cruise and ship and found that many things were wanting. HAL was only the 2nd cruise line we sailed on. Now that we have cruised on several others we became aware of , what we considered design flaws or someone did think it mattered things. In the Lido for example. The only way to know what was being offered was to walk completely around, sometimes more than once. Some items were only offered on one side and not the other. If you wanted a salad and a sandwich it was sometimes necessary to go to both sides of the buffet to get these items. They should have considered making the actual buffet into an efficient alcove area rather than jamming passengers trying to get something to eat and passengers transiting to and from the pool areas into a narrow walkway. The width of which is made even more confining by adding a dozen small tables outside of the normal dining area. Meals in the main dining room were no better than average and the selections far below those offered on other lines. HAL needs to get creative with their menus, it's not 1930 anymore.

Our stateroom which was one of their deluxe suites did not even have a curtain to divide the sleeping area from the sitting area. I guess that's common on HAL ships but someone might have thought that small item would be important for additional privacy. The new ship's TV we had was nothing more than a disgrace. The cheapest remote, which never properly worked, we have ever seen. We have been led to believe that this will be the last HAL ship to be built for sometime. Hopefully, if they do build another they will enlist comments from real passengers and get some design ideas that would be practical and beneficial. Couldn't say anything but great to describe the crew and staff it really is the high point of the cruise line, probably the best we have had on any other. It's really a shame that the new ship didn't live up to our expectations